National Library of Australia  - Gateways

ISSN 1443-0568 | no. 72 | December 2004


ALIA 2004 stand

ALIA 2004 stand
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ALIA 2004:
The Kinetica Experience

This year the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Biennial Conference was held on the Gold Coast from 21–24 September, with over 600 delegates from all library and information sectors attending. The new Gold Coast Convention Centre was a great setting for a conference, and the range of speakers, together with the numerous trade exhibitors, provided an informative experience for all delegates.

ALIA 2004 - Karen Vinoles ALIA 2004 - Lynn Hedley

ALIA 2004 - Karen Vinoles
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ALIA 2004 - Lynn Hedley
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ALIA 2004 - Liz Matherson ALIA 2004 - Mary Gosling
ALIA 2004 - Liz Matheson
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ALIA 2004 - Mary Gosling
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The success of the National Library of Australia’s trade stand was due to the commitment, enthusiasm and professionalism of the Kinetica staff responsible for setting up the stand, and the information offered to those who stopped by during the four days. During the course of the conference a number of presentations were made at the stand, offering a snapshot of the services of the National Library. Topics covered included Preserving Access to Digital Collections (PADI), Music Australia, the NLA Website, Contributing to the National Bibliographic Database and the Kinetica Redevelopment Project, offering a snapshot of the services of the National Library. Staff on the stand were kept busy answering questions and providing information to delegates, a number of whom commented on the wonderful initiatives by the National Library and their ongoing appreciation of the support through the range of services offered by the Library.

ALIA 2004 - NLA staff

ALIA 2004 - NLA staff
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Roxanne Missingham (Assistant Director-General, Resource Sharing Division) presented a paper entitled The Redevelopment of Kinetica: Addressing New Challenges with Innovation in Technology. She spoke of how Kinetica was being redeveloped with a new architecture based on a combination of a bibliographic data management system and a resource discovery system. She outlined the improved capacity for the National Library to respond to the needs of its customer libraries, and to offer users an extension of current services and new functionality. Her paper was well received, with the audience asking a number of questions on the impact of, and enhancements to, the Kinetica Service. There was a genuine air of excitement and interest in the release of Phase 1 of the Redevelopment Project, to be launched in December this year. A copy of her paper in pdf format is available through the ALIA Conference website: <http://conferences.alia.org.au/alia2004/pdfs/missingham.r.paper.pdf>.

As at any library conference, there was the usual meeting of old and new friends, and the opportunity for delegates to literally ‘shake their maraccas’ at CarnivALIA, the official conference dinner, held at Dreamworld. For me, the Gold Coast will never be the same. Whenever someone mentions ALIA or the Gold Coast, I picture a conga line of liberated librarians dancing wildly to the hypnotic beat of a percussion band. I wonder how ALIA will top that for their next event?
—David Ong, Acting Manager, Kinetica Customer Services

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